How did the media affect the Beijing Olympics and what was the affect on social injustice?
Jeremy Bassat
Caren Silver
The Beijing Olympics was a glorious display of Chinese culture. Since The Communist Party of China is the singular ruling party in China, the media is controlled by the state. Therefore, the influx of international media to the Chinese platform throughout the Beijing Olympics was expected to highlight the social injustices that exist in the totalitarian state. Throughout history, international media, and the political protection that it possesses, has allowed a stifled society a voice to protest against the controlling state. But surprisingly, the Chinese people didn’t use the media as an outlet to remonstrate,
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largely due to fear. During the Beijing Olympics, there were many concurrent issues surrounding the Chinese government.
China currently rules the Tibet region. Tibetans desire autonomy , the right of self-government. The conflict between the two began in 1950, when the Chinese took over Tibet . The oppression of religion and freedom of speech, as well as the constant rejection of Tibet’s spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, has caused anger . This has caused at least 148 self-immolations in Tibet since 2009 , as a form of protest over the Chinese rule. Self immolation, the act of committing suicide via setting fire to one’s self, has in the past been used as a political based protest against the abuse of human rights, and suppressive governments . In addition, pro democratic students in Hong Kong have protested demanding the right to vote in their own leader. There was an ongoing protest against the proposed law change, by students pitching tents in the middle of Hong Kong and sleeping in them. 57 Year old man living in the camp, Thomas Hung, said, “The government right now is doing many shameful things, and we want to let all the Hong Kong people know that we are still here, we will not back off.” Over time, students finally packed their tents , concluding in a seven-hour raid, where 7,000 police officers arrested the final remaining 247 protesters who chose to remain. They removed wreckage and demolished all remanent of the protest swiftly. Both key issues at the time, were anti-government. …show more content…
The Beijing Olympics, and the media coverage that came with the games, allowed the people to publicise issues on how the government is treating its people. However, during the Beijing Olympics, there were no major protests. Throughout history, there have been many examples of people who have been politically repressed by a country, and have used the international media to express their opinion.
Russia and Qatar are holding the 2018 and 2022 World Cups respectively. Homosexuality in Qatar is illegal, whilst Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia, at the 2014 Winter Olympic Games, said gay people ‘should leave children alone.’ Robbie Rogers, a gay footballer, has used Sky Sports, a media institution that possesses global reach, to express his opinion on the lack of rights gay people receive. He states, ‘If you look at the next few world cups, they are in places where, if I were to go, I would possibly be imprisoned or beat up… it is pretty ridiculous.’ Similarly, Peter Greste, an Al Jazeera journalist, used the international media to help release himself from jail. On July 7th 2014, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi told reporters that he would prefer the journalists be extradited than tried, as it damaged the international perception of Egypt. Following pressures from the media, on September 26th 2014, US president Barack Obama and Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott met with the Egyptian president in regards to the release of Peter Greste. Finally, on November 13th, President Sisi allowed the exile of Peter Greste to Australia. Following Greste’s release, he spoke to Al Jazeera staff. He recalled that when his mother mentioned to him in jail ‘how big this is getting’ , he
responded, ‘I’m a journalist, of course I get this’ in a loving and communal tone. He thanked the international media and the ‘increase pressure around the world’ , believing the #FREEAJSTAFF campaign, among others led the Egyptian government to a point where ‘they could not continue to hold us and maintain respect in the eyes of the wider community.’ The international media has in history been a mean to communicate against suppression. Both Peter Greste and Robbie Rogers exemplify this. Both humans displayed how to use the international media to fight for something that would not be allowed within some countries. The Chinese people could have used these examples, and other examples previous in history, to spark protests and mass changes. A potential explanation for the lack of political outcry at the Beijing Olympics is fear. The people of China feared the government, and the power it holds, and the government feared the civil unrest the people could cause. The Chinese government has throughout history used fear tactics to keep control of its people. The Tiananmen Square massacre of 1989 exhibits the brutal Chinese systematic methodology of conditioning citizens to adhere to government conventions. This, along with many other acts, has caused the population to be subversive to the government, which has, over time, forced the Chinese people to become accustomed to this treatment, and prevented uprisings, as they see their reality as normal. It is not just the people of China who fear the government. Foreign governments too fear the power of the Chinese government. British Prime Minister David Cameron in the past has publically undermined and placed pressures on non-democratic regimes, such as ISIS. Mr Cameron stated that ISIS was based upon ‘Ideas, which are hostile to basic liberal values such as democracy, freedom and sexual equality.’ He then continued on to explain how, ‘Like any extreme doctrine, it is subversive. At its furthest end it seeks to destroy nation-states to invent its own barbaric realm.’ Mr Cameron was in an international forum, degrading ISIS. Yet, when Mr Cameron visits China, he will ‘continue the tradition of sucking up to the Chinese leadership.’ He will also turn a blind eye to the principles that ‘forces women to have abortions, and persecutes Christians.’ This is caused by his fear of China’s global powerhouse status and the repercussions that could occur if the government was angered. The government too is fearful of its people. It feared that the Beijing Olympics could spark mass protests around the country. So, it decided to focus on greatness, and distract the people of the injustices occurring in the country. The Beijing Olympics was China’s ‘Coming out party… that showcases China’s maturation into a great economic and … political power.’ As PRC premier Wen Jiabao stated on April 24th 2008, it was to display to the world how ‘democratic, open, civilized, friendly and harmonious’ China is. They catapulted to greatness by investing almost $40 Billion in infrastructure from 2002 to 2006. This spending, estimated by the Beijing Statistical Bureau, added 2.5% annually to Beijing’s overall economic growth since 2002. The focus on greatness did not stop there. China went to extreme lengths to win the games, to help surface the nationalistic emotions of the Chinese people. It is believed that the Beijing Olympics ‘saw questionable judging in the shooting, gymnastics and boxing competitions’ as well as ‘allegations that China had fielded under age gymnasts.’ The desire to win was not just for China’s ambition to announce itself on the global stage, but also announce itself domestically, as a country that is a world power, which is a privilege to be a part of. The success of the Chinese team distracted the citizens from the real issues of China, and allowed them to focus instead on the collective success they experienced. The idea of fear has completely been transformed in my mind after researching this topic. The importance fear has on all political issues, and the leverage that comes with fear, decides the way many events play out. In addition, I have viewed the power of the media in an even more influential manner after concluding my research. Social media, and the campaigns that are propagated through those means, have the power and ability to incite fear into anyone and change the course of events. I would have continued my research onto 3 paths. Firstly, I would have looked at the similarities between the Beijing Olympics and the 1936 Berlin Olympics, and what that indicated about the similarities between the governments. Secondly, I would have looked deeply into nationalism and the issues that come with nationalism. Lastly, I would have researched other events, such as the Brazil World cup in 2014, and the Russia World cup in 2018, to be able to adjudicate the power of each government by comparing the political unrest in the country at the time of the event. This would determine the ability of particular governments to force their people into somnambulistic societies, and maintain control. Bibliography Ross, P. (2015). Tibetan Monk Sets Himself On Fire In Apparent Protest Of Chinese Rule [PHOTOS]. [online] International Business Times. MacQueen, K, & Gatehouse, J 2008, 'BREAKING OUT THE GOOD CHINA FOR THE OLYMPICS', Maclean's, 121, 33, pp. 42-45, Australia/New Zealand Reference Centre, EBSCOhost Chang, GG 2015, 'THE HONG KONG MOMENT', World Affairs, 177, 5, pp. 9-15, Australia/New Zealand Reference Centre, EBSCOhost Lutz, T. (2015). Russia and Qatar World Cups are 'insane' due to homophobia, says Robbie Rogers. [online] the Guardian. Inthesetimes.com, (2015). American Unionists Join Chinese Uniqlo Workers’ Campaign for End to Alleged Abuse - Working In These Times. [online] Hvistendahl, M. (2015). Study of Internet censorship reveals the deepest fears of China's Government. [online] Science. Lucie-Smith, F. (2012). CatholicHerald.co.uk » China’s new leader presides over a monstrous tyranny. But you won’t hear Cameron mention that. [online] Peter Greste gives speech at Al Jazeera HQ in Doha #FreeAJStaff. (2015). [video] Doha, Qatar: Al Jazeera English. Sands, L. (2015). The 2008 Olympics’ Impact on China | China Business Review. [online] Chinabusinessreview.com. Moore, M. (2011). Rampant cheating at Chinese games exposed. The Telegraph. [online] BBC News, (2015). Peter Greste's release prompts muted media response - BBC News. [online] Viney, S. (2015). Timeline of key events in Al Jazeera journalists' trial. [online] ABC News. Iyengar, R. (2015). Hong Kong’s Umbrella Revolutionaries Are Slowly Coming Back to the Streets. Time. [online] Cameron, D. (2015). Islamist Extremism Speech. Ninestiles School: The Independent.
It states that “Tibet declared itself an independent republic in 1912.Although its status did not receive widespread recognition, Tibet functioned as an independent government until China sent troops to Tibet in 1950” (BBC News). The Tibetans feel as though their freedom is being retained and they are being dictated by China, which they did not approve of. China claims that Tibet is better with them leading them and insists that Tibet is there’s. The tension between them still exists today and is clearly shown in both books, by Xinran and Ma Jian. The concept of Sky Burial is inspired by a true story.
Close, Paul, David Askew, and Xin Xu. The Beijing Olympics the Political Economy of a Sporting Mega-event.. Hoboken: Taylor & Francis, 2006.. 34-35
The purpose of media is quite SIMPLY, "a warning signal--information--that alerts the citizens that something is wrong which needs attention and resolution. An aware and informed populace could then influence its leaders to act upon that information in an effort to solve that problem" (Jensen, Project Censored). But Media has often been criticized for promoting a mass mediocrity, because it only tells the public what it wants to hear. The idea of Media promoting mass mediocrity is a reoccurring image in Fahrenheit 451. Such is not the case in today's society. One of the most successful freedom fighting campaign has been the Tibetan Freedom Concert, a rock concert where artists and citizens converge, sharing their views for Tibetan freedom from Chinese oppression. Over the three years of its existence, the concert has generated so much publicity that it has forced President Bill Clinton to step in and try to hasten the negotiation between the Chinese government and the Dalai Lama. In a Sonicnet Music News article, the Dalai Lama said, "'Through this live show, many, many Chinese will have gained a better awareness of President Clinton's feelings about Tibet, and also President Jiang's feelings, and I think that can be enormously helpful in the long run.'" (Media Inclusion 1)
The Communist revolution in China was loosely based on the revolution in Russia. Russia was able to implement the beginnings of Marxist Communism in the way that it was intended They had a large working class of factory workers, known as the proletariat, that were able to band together and rise up to overthrow the groups of rich property owners, known as the bourgeoisie. The communist party wanted to adopted this same Marxist sense of revolution, but they realized that there were some fatal flaws in the differences between the two countries. The first was that there was not the same sense of class difference between people, yes there were peasants and landowners but there was not a sense of a class struggle. The other difference was that China was not industrialized like Russia so there was no proletariat group, as defined by Marxism, to draw the revolution from. What the Chinese Communists needed to do is re-define the proletariat for their situation, who they looked at were the peasants.
York, Geoffrey. 2007. “Text-messages: the new Chinese protest tool.” Globe and Mail, Friday, June 1: A13.
The Chinese have repeatedly tortured, imprisoned, and murdered Tibetans all for what they claim is national unity. While the oppression of the Tibetan people began in the 1950’s with the invasion of China, it continues just as strongly today. From religious oppression and unfair trials to the torture of nuns and monks, the Chinese abuse even the most reverent aspects of Tibetan culture. Political prisoners, whether they are monks, nuns or lay people, are tortured with utter disregard for human rights. Chinese laws have also been established to eradicate the Tibetan people entirely. Women often must endure forced abortions and sterilization due to Chinese birth policies. Through all of these crimes against humanity, China repeatedly commits acts of genocide as established by the United Nations.
According to Confucius, a Chinese teacher and philosopher of the period of Chinese history where he created a patriarchal society that woman had to obey their husbands and grown sons. Therefore, during the early times, people in China are generally gender stereotype. Women were discriminated because they were deemed as weak, submissive, passive and dependent on men which only capable of doing house chores and taking care of children comparing to the males who is seen as the core of the family because they were dominant, independent, assertive and usually the one who provides financial support to the family. Women do not have legal rights in making decisions and most of them were illiterate and only educated on self-discipline, etiquette, relationships with in-laws, household management, humility and chastity. Women being lesser than men were considered to be natural and proper. This in turn caused gender inequality and it is not unusual to see males dominate the business world in the early days as well. However, in the modern days now, China has become more of a communism where everyone, regardless of gender, receives equal shares of benefits derived from labour. This led to a rise of the general status of women and they were given more opportunities for education. This is due to the president of China, Mao Zedong who utters the memorable phrase “Women hold up half of the sky” which changed the perceptions towards women in China. According to the study produced by the Beijing arm of accounting firm, Grant Thornton, the proportion of women in senior management in China has climbed to 51% at the year of 2013, up from 25% in 2012 and outpacing the global average of 21%. In a survey of 200 businesses in China, 94% of them employed wo...
Millions of immigrants over the previous centuries have shaped the United States of America into what it is today. America is known as a “melting pot”, a multicultural country that welcomes and is home to an array of every ethnic and cultural background imaginable. We are a place of opportunity, offering homes and jobs and new economic gains to anyone who should want it. However, America was not always such a “come one, come all” kind of country. The large numbers of immigrants that came during the nineteenth century angered many of the American natives and lead to them to blame the lack of jobs and low wages on the immigrants, especially the Asian communities. This resentment lead to the discrimination and legal exclusion of immigrants, with the first and most important law passed being the Chinese Exclusion Act. However, the discrimination the Chinese immigrants so harshly received was not rightly justified or deserved. With all of their contributions and accomplishments in opening up the West, they were not so much harming our country but rather helping it.
Communism is a system of government, a political ideology that rejects private ownership and promotes a classless, stateless society based on common ownership of all property and the means of production, where by all work is shared and all proceeds are commonly owned. Communism is practised in China, North Korea, Vietnam, Laos and Cuba. However most of the world’s communist governments have been disbanded since the end of World War II. Soon after the Japanese surrendered at the end of World War II, Communist forces began a war against the Kuomintang in China. The Communists gradually gained control of the country and on the 1st October, 1949, Mao Zedong announced the victory of the Communist party and the establishment of the People's Republic of China. China has been ruled by the Communist party ever since.
“While there is significant variation across regions, within the cities and within the rural areas, the most significant inequality is between the urban and the rural” (Saich, 2011:316).
China is a communist country, whose citizens face many difficult situations while trying to fight for their human rights. According to the “Freedom Rankings” from the database CountryWatch, China is not a free country. Specifically, the Political Rights and Civil Liberties are in their maximum numbers; this means that these rights are confiscated from the people. Therefore, freedoms of press, expression, speech, religion, and movement are all severely limited in China. The government has also kept a close watch on art in China.
The state-controlled media and the private wealthy individuals owned media decide the content that the public can get. The strict laws and regulations in China not only affect the domestic media but also influence the attitude towards foreign media. Even though China has a very different way to manage the media system, it already starts to approach media freedom, like the CNC reform and reforms document in 2013. In the future, the Chinese government would find its own way to free media industry with its social conditions.
...u- nist states, China remains unified under a CCP-Ied state that is ever vigilant not only againstwestern attempts at "xihua" China- thatis, imposingwesternliber- al-democratic institutions on China, but also "fenhua" China - that is, disinte- gratingitbysupportingTaiwaneseindependenceoranyforms ofethnonationalist independent movement. The reform period starting in 1978 marked a dramatic rearticulation of class and nation in the political economy of Chinese development, and along with it, a radical reorientation of the class nature of Chinese nationalism and the devel- opment of a depoliticized neoliberal cultural politics of class and nation. Information and communication technologies (ICTs) and commercialized media - with TV at its core, but soon followed by computers and cell phones - have played instrumental roles in these processes (Zhao and Schiller 2001, Hong
Interests: China’s leaders desire to improve their nation’s economy while preserving political stability. They want to censor political discussions to prevent “westernization” of China,
The topic of democracy in China is a highly controversial topic. Although China has not democratised, it has done well in the global situation amongst its democratic competitors. Since the path to democracy is different for each country, we cannot expect that China would follow the same path or same model of democracy as the western nations. This essay will look at what democracy is and how it can be placed in a Chinese context as well as looking at the proponents and opponents of democracy in China. It will also look at whether China is democratising by focusing on village elections, globalisation and the emergence of a civil society. These specific topics were chosen because they will help provide good evidence and arguments to the topic of democratisation in China. The main argument in this essay will be that although China is implementing some changes that can be seen as the beginning of a road to democracy, there contribution should not be over estimated. China still has a long way to go before it can be considered that it is democratising. The small changes are good but China still has a long road ahead of itself to achieve democracy.